Chapter 47: The Dark Side
- Location
- Maryland
Chapter 47: The Dark Side
The Yautja ship descended from orbit. Attempts to visit this specific world before had not gone well for his species, but the hunter's remote scanning showed that things were different now. The previously present orbital defense was gone. The opportunity to hunt on a world that had previously been closed was too great an opportunity to ignore.
Huddled by the engines, Ba'al was running out of food. Water was available on the ship with a small amount of risk, but food supplies were harder to come by. It was therefore a relief when he felt the ship coming in for a landing. With few options left, the former System Lord knew that he had to escape the ship. Even if he was stuck on another hunting preserve, his host body still needed to eat. At worst, he could always try and stow away on another ship in the future. He waited for what seemed a sufficient period of time, then made his way to the hatch. Seeing nobody near on the sparsely-populated ship, he triggered the opening sequence and dropped to the ground.
The ship was parked in a clearing in a forest that looked...like almost every other forest Ba'al had seen throughout the Milky Way galaxy. He unknowingly shared Colonel O'Neill's opinion that the terraforming done by the Ancients resulted in a rather dull sameness on many worlds. Forests, however, at least had game. As he was rapidly making his way away from the ship, Ba'al got a sudden feeling of peril. On instinct honed by periodic encounters with the hunters, he ducked down behind a tree stump and peered around. After a few minutes, his eyes widened as he saw a shimmering, camouflaged figure pushing its way through the shrubbery. Cursing his luck, he waited until the hunter had moved away, and then began to run. What was the chance that he would wander off in the same direction as the hunter?
As he ran, his host was struggling, as he hadn't had nearly enough calories to support the needs of both host and symbiote in some time, especially as he had had to heal the damage done by the engine's low-level radiation. Getting away as quickly as possible was necessary if he didn't want his host's skull mounted on a wall back on board the hunter's ship. He was so concerned about possible pursuit that he didn't realize he was running straight into an ambush. As he pushed his way through a thick patch of small trees, he was brought up short as a jolt of electricity shot through his body. Falling to the ground, Ba'al could see two heavily armed humans, one of which had a taser still aimed at him. The second was replacing his used taser cartridge with a new one. "Wait," said Ba'al with a desperate pant, "you have to help me. It's after me..."
The second man fired, shocking him again. Ba'al collapsed groaning. The first man looked at the second. "Don't kill him. You know we're supposed to take any trespassers to Nikos."
The two dragged Ba'al through the woods, finally arriving at a fortified compound that was built around a luxurious villa. There were plenty of people around the compound, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to the two men carrying assault rifles and dragging a semi-conscious man inside. Ba'al decided to play dead until they arrived at their destination, curious as to what was happening. This group of humans seemed well-organized and hostile to outsiders.
His destination was room that was more like a throne room than a normal living room. The furnishings were sparse but luxurious. A tall, dark-haired, muscular man with a goatee was sitting, surrounded by three barely dressed, beautiful women. The two men dropped Ba'al in front of him, and both dropped to one knee. "Nikos, we found this man running through the woods, heading toward the compound from the west."
The man named Nikos looked at Ba'al without pity, and asked, "Tell me what you were doing near my compound." With some alarm, Ba'al felt his host stir for the first time in centuries. His host's personality was practically non-existent after all this time, but for some reason, it was choosing now to exert some effort toward control. He could feel his body trying to answer the man's question against his will. He choked off the response with a coughing fit. The man frowned, annoyed, and asked again, "Tell me what you were doing running toward my compound!" Ba'al couldn't understand how the man was compelling him to answer, but it seemed to only affect his host. The goa'uld part of him had no desire to answer. Instead of answering, he whispered a vague reply, as if his throat were too hoarse for him to be heard. This made the lounging man lean forward. "Repeat yourself!" he commanded. Ba'al again said something so quietly that he couldn't be heard. Impatient, and irritated at having his orders thwarted by circumstances, the man got up and moved to Ba'al. He knelt beside him, and listening closely, again said, "Repeat yourself!" Ba'al looked up at the man and opened his mouth...and jumped to a new host.
Ba'al ignored the commotion around him while he established dominance over his new host. The new host was a man named Nikos Vasil...and he had an utterly fascinating ability. Ba'al raised his hand and said "Stop!" The panicking minions immediately stopped panicking and waited for his orders. The goa'uld could feel the operation of his host's power, the same power that had made the world name him Heartbreaker. He ransacked the host's memories to learn more about this effect. The people around him had been so emotionally dominated by Vasil that they instinctively obeyed his orders without question.
This planet...was Earth, but not the Earth with which he was familiar. This Earth was filled with humans that had superpowers. It was a violent and dangerous place, filled with capes that ruled their own territories. Heartbreaker had been one, though his ambitions had been pathetically limited. Until recently, there had been attacks by giant, city-killing monsters called Endbringers, but those attacks had recently stopped. Vasil had been worried that this would result in the various heroes, grouped into organizations called the Protectorate and the Guild, would start paying more attention to taking down villains. Instead of trying to take over his country, he had instead planned to huddle inside his compound and hide from the outside world with his slaves. Ba'al had been dragged here on the assumption that he was a lost hiker, and was meant to be just another human shield. The goa'uld found that concept amusing.
Looking down at his former host, which was now lying comatose on the ground, Ba'al looked to one of those who had dragged him here, pointed at his former host, and ordered, "Kill him." Without question, the guard pulled the assault rifle from his back, took aim, and put a bullet in the back of his former host's head.
"Nikos, baby, are you OK?" asked one of the women who had been fawning over Heartbreaker.
Ba'al checked his host's memories for a name, and said, "Of course, Karen, everything's fine." Karen had been a drama student in Toronto that had been unfortunate enough to catch Heartbreaker's attention on one of his infrequent trips away from the compound. How lucky was he to find a host that already came with devoted slaves, each of them more obedient than anyone drugged with nish'ta?
There was one problem, however, with his situation. While this world had ample examples of advanced technology, one area that was lagging behind was the area of space travel. One of the Endbringers, a being called the Simurgh, had effectively ended this world's space programs. Ba'al would have to rectify that before he could resume his place as a System Lord. Ba'al clapped his hands. "Everybody! I need to take a trip away from here. Prepare a convoy." People jumped up and began to relay his orders without delay. Even the girls went to put on some additional clothes. Hopefully, this Toybox would have the technology he needed to craft a way off of this world.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The probes into the Cadmus network were far more advanced than expected. It was all Braniac 4 could do to hide his advanced processes, leaving behind a shell intelligence to play the role of an idiotic research assistant. The person cracking Cadmus's security had to be an artificial intelligence. No non-ascended biological would be so quick and effective. This was a problem...and a threat.
He had watched the meeting with Lex Luthor through the security cameras in the conference room. The man, previously obsessed with the Kryptonian survivor, was now behaving far more rationally. He had also been excessively interested in Project Tesla, seemingly suspecting that it was more than it appeared. The scientist, Lee, was most obviously not a prodigy in artificial intelligence, so creating even the simplistic mind that would have served as the project's stated objective was beyond him. He was, however, exceedingly easy to manipulate, and foolish enough to take credit for what he seemed to think was pure luck. Luthor, unfortunately, wasn't fooled.
Braniac would have to take care of that. Unfortunately, with a highly-advanced AI roaming around, he would have to be far more cautious than normal. Once the probing of the Cadmus network stopped, the latest iteration of a Kryptonian AI triggered the startup sequence to a particular android that he had routed to Cadmus, unknown to any of the humans or other beings in the facility. It was one of Professor Ivo's prototypes, one that had been seized by the government and then mostly forgotten. By Braniac's standards, it was fairly primitive, but it did have some intriguing adaptive abilities, and it would provide him mobility without having to move over this world's information networks.
Bahamut considered her findings. The AI at Cadmus appeared to be just what it seemed, and there were very few beings that could successfully hide from a Motherbox. Despite that, there were a worrying series of orders that appeared to originate from nowhere. Personnel had been moved around. Equipment had been ordered. Most troubling was that one of the Amazo androids had been shipped to the facility, and none of the staff seemed to realize it. Luthor's concerns may have uncovered something, but she wasn't sure what. It was clearly something to bring to Dragon's attention.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Now that it knew what to watch for, the Phoenix Force was checking for dimensional incursions. Those fascinating lizards had been coming and going, and she was eager to find out more about them. When another portal opened, the primal force of destruction that was Phoenix reached out to the other world in search of an avatar.
Mimi was reading an X-Men comic while Jack chatted with Riley about their next destination. Even though superhero comics weren't that common, they still published some of the more popular ones from Earth Aleph, and Jean Grey was one of her favorites. Mimi could empathize with a young woman burdened by a destructive force of pure flame. She grabbed copies whenever she could find them. Unfortunately, she had to replace them frequently, as they often got left behind or burned. Sometimes, her team mates would destroy them while raging for one reason or another.
The girl stiffened as she felt a presence entering her mind. The presence was overpowering...and strangely amused at her choice of reading material. 'YOU LIKE FIRE, LITTLE ANGEL, DON'T YOU? HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE POWER TO BURN THE MULTIVERSE?' Part of Mimi was terrified of that voice...but the part that was Burnscar...that part was enthralled. Almost against her will, she could feel the scars on her face pull tight as she smiled.
Jack looked up when Mimi tensed. His power was telling him something was wrong. As he looked at the girl, her hair changed from a badly cut, mousy brown to a vibrant red. It even seemed to grow out some, becoming fuller and longer. Jack's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, and he asked, "What just happened to your hair?"
Burnscar looked at Jack, and she could tell he was frightened, because something was happening that he didn't understand. She knew how he would deal with that. Before he could move, she grabbed all of the members of the Nine in a solid telekinetic grip. She held them immobile as Jack Slash appeared to spontaneously combust. Bonesaw's panic was palpable, but she was held in place like the others. Most of the others had no idea what was happening, though the Siberian popped into existence near where Jack's body was rapidly turning to ash. Her mind spoke to the others before the Siberian could attack. 'Jack has decided to retire. This team is under new management now.' This was followed up by a mental attack that knocked Manton unconscious, the Phoenix having easily discerned his location. A burst of pain had the other members screaming internally, still unable to move. She continued with bursts of pain with each member until she could sense they were willing to follow her lead. Bonesaw, interestingly enough, held out the longest. Jack had done quite a lot of brainwashing in her case. Manton would be a problem for later. She would keep him unconscious until she could focus all of her attention on him. His power was too dangerous to risk distractions.
Bonesaw looked at the formerly meek Burnscar nervously, and asked, "What are we going to do now?"
Mimi smirked, an unusual confidence filling her. "First, we're going to go someplace quiet while I convince Siberian that I'm in charge. Then, we're going to our next target." The name of a city had been provided by the dark power that had filled her. "We're going to Brockton Bay."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jacob Mwangi was nervous. This was not typical. As an admiral in Starfleet Intelligence, he was used to being the most informed person in the room. As the Intelligence Councilor for Section 31, he was used to being the most feared person in the room. Their coming visitor, however, was somebody who merited a degree of nervousness. Mwangi could tell that even Admiral Adair was nervous, and Kelly Adair had a reputation as a stone cold bitch even among those who had no idea that she was the Section 31 Military Councilor.
The normal hum of the transporter began, but it was distorted part way through. When the transport finally finished, there was a woman standing on the pad. She was wearing the uniform of the Imperial Navy, and she had a famous, and notorious, scar across her cheek. She stepped forward. "I'm here," she said quietly, "because it has come to my attention that our network in this reality has become compromised."
Mwangi's heart began to beat more rapidly, but he forced himself to appear calm. "I have heard of no major breaches."
The woman stepped forward and backhanded him solidly, knocking him down and to the side. Such was her strength that he had to struggle to regain his balance and avoid falling to the floor. "That," she said, "is part of the problem. I want to see all of your recent reports. If I find that you've missed any signs of this problem, you'll be lucky to just spend time in an agony booth." She looked over to Adair. "I also want to see an overview of Starfleet's military disposition. This last war has been far too disruptive to our plans, and I want to know who is responsible, and if that same party is responsible for the gaps in our security."
"Yes, Admiral," said Adair with a well-concealed nervous swallow.
Turning her attention back to Mwangi, she said, "I assume you have a uniform for me, as well as information about the location of my counterpart here?"
This, Mwangi could at least answer affirmatively. "Yes, Admiral. Your counterpart is currently on leave. She's due back to Starfleet Headquarters in two weeks. Until then, she's visiting with her family in Indiana."
"Her family?" asked the woman curiously.
"Yes," replied Mwangi. "Her mother and sister are still alive in this reality."
"Interesting," she replied. "Very well, I'm going to go get changed. I will expect an updated status when I get back."
Adair and Mwangi both snapped to attention and gave an Imperial salute, fist to chest followed by a palm facing out. "Yes, Admiral Janeway!"
Without another word, one of the most feared officers of the Imperial Navy left to change into something local.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Eve was staring absently out the window of her office. She wasn't sure what to do about the current situation. The Senior Partners were demanding that heads roll over the deaths of the entire Circle of the Black Thorn, but nobody had any idea who had done it. On top of that, their, "CEO," the vampire Angel, was going insane over the fact that both his comatose girlfriend and his amnesiac son had disappeared. Eve wouldn't really care if it weren't for the fact that the vampire was a key part of the firm's plans for the apocalypse, and all of their leverage over him had up and vanished. On top of that, the Sunnydale amulet was missing.
None of the firm's seers were of any use. Whatever was behind these disasters was completely hidden from them. Eve knew firsthand how possible that was, but that didn't help uncover the culprit. She had to do something, however, lest her bosses lose their patience with her. Even the children of the Senior Partners weren't immune to their wrath if they screwed up badly enough.
Absent any information, she decided to go and see if Angel was coherent. As the kidnappers were likely related to the killers of the Circle, any leads he had might help her out, as unlikely as it seemed. The last two times she had gone to him, he had been ranting angrily (the first time) or drunk (the second), and hadn't been the least bit helpful. He even seemed to blame her, for some reason, even though her orders had been to keep Ms. Chase and Connor where they were.
When she walked into Angel's office, she was frustrated to find it completely empty. 'Where would he go in the middle of the day? It's not like he could take a walk outside,' she thought to herself.
Eve froze when a voice from behind her, between her and the door, said, "Angel is unfortunately no longer able to fulfill his duties as CEO of this branch."
She turned to look at the speaker, only to find herself staring at a large, jet black quadrupedal reptilian creature. It wasn't any species of demon that she knew (and she knew a lot), but she could tell it was potentially very dangerous. "Do you know where Angel is?" she asked, while simultaneously calculating whether or not she could make it past the lizard to the doorway.
"No, you cannot make it past me before I could stop you," said the lizard. "Angel is currently unconscious and on his way to being cured."
Eve looked confused. "He's a vampire. He doesn't get sick." She wondered if the lizard was a telepath.
"No, I'm not telepathic. You're just incredibly obvious," said the reptile. "Also, his vampirism is his sickness."
That was...troublesome. The last thing the Senior Partners wanted was for Angel to get dusted, or worse, become human. There were fixes to either situation, but they tended to be expensive and problematic. "Who are you?" she asked. Hopefully, somebody else would wander in and call security, giving her the chance to escape.
"Even if security did arrive, they wouldn't be particularly helpful, and your Senior Partners are going to have to get used to not getting their way. Their access to Liam, as well as the blood demon sharing his body, has been permanently revoked. To answer your question, my name is Metis," replied the lizard.
Eve gave a falsely confident smile. "The Senior Partners have a way of getting what they want." She made an effort to avoid thinking any more compromising thoughts.
"Yes, well, that's changed recently. In addition to Angel, you'll also be losing the services of Winifred Burkle, Charles Gunn, Wesley Wyndham-Price, and Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan. They, too, are also already gone and beyond your reach. Given the level of bad news you now have to convey, I would strongly suggest you instead meet up with Lindsey and find some way to disappear," said Metis. "I'm sure Marcus Hamilton can handle the liaison job in your absence."
Eve stopped and stared, unsure where this creature was getting its information. Ignoring how she new about Marcus, Eve couldn't fathom how she could possibly know about Lindsey. Her boyfriend was so well concealed that even the best seers available to the Senior Partners couldn't locate him, and that was before the best ones were killed.
Metis gave her an excessively toothy grin. "You're actually lucky, Eve. If my Family and I hadn't become involved, then you would have lost your immortality and Lindsey would have been killed." Metis didn't add in that Lorne would have done the deed -- mostly because she didn't want that getting back to the chatty anagogic demon.
Eve chillingly found herself believing the reptile for some reason. "How do you know all this?"
Metis just said, "The Family know a great many things, Eve. Consider yourself warned." As she said the last word, the giant lizard just...faded out of existence.
Eve stood there for a moment, wondering if she was delusional or drugged. She pinched herself, hard, and decided that she was at least awake. Now she had to decide what to do. She could go to the Senior Partners and tell them that in addition to the seer and the kid, Angel and his entire crew were now gone, and the only clue they had about who had taken them and killed the Circle of the Black Thorn was a conversation she had had with a giant lizard that can turn invisible. On the other hand, she could go to her boyfriend, and the two of them could get as far from LA as possible and try to find a way to keep her hidden like him.
As she started walking toward the elevator, she passed Angel's brainless secretary, Harmony.
"Have you seen Angel recently?" asked the blonde.
Eve gave her a fake smile. "Sorry, not this morning." When it looked like the blonde was going to say something else, she said, "Ooh, sorry, can't talk. I have to get to a meeting!" Harmony paused, confused long enough by this turn of events to let her get to the elevators.
Once she was out of the building, she sent Lindsey a pre-arranged text message that let him know it was time to leave town. Hopefully, he would be ready to go by the time she got there.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The USS Demeter was a Weyland-Yutani exploratory scout. The scouts were responsible for the ever-expanding sphere of human influence in the galaxy. That role hadn't changed, even after the firm's leadership changed. Curiosity was a fundamental human trait, one shared by their children, both biological and synthetic.
Richie Gomez was a warrant officer on the Demeter, and he was currently looking through a set of alien ruins on the planet they had recently discovered around a distant star. It was so recent a discovery that they were still waiting for an alphanumeric designation for the new planet from the home office. The presence of evidence of an alien civilization, however, was a rare find, and so they hadn't waited to start exploring. Honestly, Gomez was hoping to make a discovery before corporate replied with orders to leave exploration to the "experts." With luck, he could find something that would earn him a promotion, or maybe enough money to go independent.
Foolishly, he hadn't informed anybody else on the crew where he was going, as he didn't want to share anything he found. That made it fairly easy for the Engineer to paralyze his muscles. The ten-foot tall pale giant then simply picked him up and carried him back to a lab. Sadly, Mr. Gomez wouldn't be reporting back to the Demeter, and a spirited search by the rest of the crew found absolutely nothing. The Engineer, however, found the anti-xenomorph virus spread throughout his body absolutely fascinating. That level of genetic engineering was approaching that of his own species, which was unique in his experience. It was also a serious threat that would need to be addressed.
The Yautja ship descended from orbit. Attempts to visit this specific world before had not gone well for his species, but the hunter's remote scanning showed that things were different now. The previously present orbital defense was gone. The opportunity to hunt on a world that had previously been closed was too great an opportunity to ignore.
Huddled by the engines, Ba'al was running out of food. Water was available on the ship with a small amount of risk, but food supplies were harder to come by. It was therefore a relief when he felt the ship coming in for a landing. With few options left, the former System Lord knew that he had to escape the ship. Even if he was stuck on another hunting preserve, his host body still needed to eat. At worst, he could always try and stow away on another ship in the future. He waited for what seemed a sufficient period of time, then made his way to the hatch. Seeing nobody near on the sparsely-populated ship, he triggered the opening sequence and dropped to the ground.
The ship was parked in a clearing in a forest that looked...like almost every other forest Ba'al had seen throughout the Milky Way galaxy. He unknowingly shared Colonel O'Neill's opinion that the terraforming done by the Ancients resulted in a rather dull sameness on many worlds. Forests, however, at least had game. As he was rapidly making his way away from the ship, Ba'al got a sudden feeling of peril. On instinct honed by periodic encounters with the hunters, he ducked down behind a tree stump and peered around. After a few minutes, his eyes widened as he saw a shimmering, camouflaged figure pushing its way through the shrubbery. Cursing his luck, he waited until the hunter had moved away, and then began to run. What was the chance that he would wander off in the same direction as the hunter?
As he ran, his host was struggling, as he hadn't had nearly enough calories to support the needs of both host and symbiote in some time, especially as he had had to heal the damage done by the engine's low-level radiation. Getting away as quickly as possible was necessary if he didn't want his host's skull mounted on a wall back on board the hunter's ship. He was so concerned about possible pursuit that he didn't realize he was running straight into an ambush. As he pushed his way through a thick patch of small trees, he was brought up short as a jolt of electricity shot through his body. Falling to the ground, Ba'al could see two heavily armed humans, one of which had a taser still aimed at him. The second was replacing his used taser cartridge with a new one. "Wait," said Ba'al with a desperate pant, "you have to help me. It's after me..."
The second man fired, shocking him again. Ba'al collapsed groaning. The first man looked at the second. "Don't kill him. You know we're supposed to take any trespassers to Nikos."
The two dragged Ba'al through the woods, finally arriving at a fortified compound that was built around a luxurious villa. There were plenty of people around the compound, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to the two men carrying assault rifles and dragging a semi-conscious man inside. Ba'al decided to play dead until they arrived at their destination, curious as to what was happening. This group of humans seemed well-organized and hostile to outsiders.
His destination was room that was more like a throne room than a normal living room. The furnishings were sparse but luxurious. A tall, dark-haired, muscular man with a goatee was sitting, surrounded by three barely dressed, beautiful women. The two men dropped Ba'al in front of him, and both dropped to one knee. "Nikos, we found this man running through the woods, heading toward the compound from the west."
The man named Nikos looked at Ba'al without pity, and asked, "Tell me what you were doing near my compound." With some alarm, Ba'al felt his host stir for the first time in centuries. His host's personality was practically non-existent after all this time, but for some reason, it was choosing now to exert some effort toward control. He could feel his body trying to answer the man's question against his will. He choked off the response with a coughing fit. The man frowned, annoyed, and asked again, "Tell me what you were doing running toward my compound!" Ba'al couldn't understand how the man was compelling him to answer, but it seemed to only affect his host. The goa'uld part of him had no desire to answer. Instead of answering, he whispered a vague reply, as if his throat were too hoarse for him to be heard. This made the lounging man lean forward. "Repeat yourself!" he commanded. Ba'al again said something so quietly that he couldn't be heard. Impatient, and irritated at having his orders thwarted by circumstances, the man got up and moved to Ba'al. He knelt beside him, and listening closely, again said, "Repeat yourself!" Ba'al looked up at the man and opened his mouth...and jumped to a new host.
Ba'al ignored the commotion around him while he established dominance over his new host. The new host was a man named Nikos Vasil...and he had an utterly fascinating ability. Ba'al raised his hand and said "Stop!" The panicking minions immediately stopped panicking and waited for his orders. The goa'uld could feel the operation of his host's power, the same power that had made the world name him Heartbreaker. He ransacked the host's memories to learn more about this effect. The people around him had been so emotionally dominated by Vasil that they instinctively obeyed his orders without question.
This planet...was Earth, but not the Earth with which he was familiar. This Earth was filled with humans that had superpowers. It was a violent and dangerous place, filled with capes that ruled their own territories. Heartbreaker had been one, though his ambitions had been pathetically limited. Until recently, there had been attacks by giant, city-killing monsters called Endbringers, but those attacks had recently stopped. Vasil had been worried that this would result in the various heroes, grouped into organizations called the Protectorate and the Guild, would start paying more attention to taking down villains. Instead of trying to take over his country, he had instead planned to huddle inside his compound and hide from the outside world with his slaves. Ba'al had been dragged here on the assumption that he was a lost hiker, and was meant to be just another human shield. The goa'uld found that concept amusing.
Looking down at his former host, which was now lying comatose on the ground, Ba'al looked to one of those who had dragged him here, pointed at his former host, and ordered, "Kill him." Without question, the guard pulled the assault rifle from his back, took aim, and put a bullet in the back of his former host's head.
"Nikos, baby, are you OK?" asked one of the women who had been fawning over Heartbreaker.
Ba'al checked his host's memories for a name, and said, "Of course, Karen, everything's fine." Karen had been a drama student in Toronto that had been unfortunate enough to catch Heartbreaker's attention on one of his infrequent trips away from the compound. How lucky was he to find a host that already came with devoted slaves, each of them more obedient than anyone drugged with nish'ta?
There was one problem, however, with his situation. While this world had ample examples of advanced technology, one area that was lagging behind was the area of space travel. One of the Endbringers, a being called the Simurgh, had effectively ended this world's space programs. Ba'al would have to rectify that before he could resume his place as a System Lord. Ba'al clapped his hands. "Everybody! I need to take a trip away from here. Prepare a convoy." People jumped up and began to relay his orders without delay. Even the girls went to put on some additional clothes. Hopefully, this Toybox would have the technology he needed to craft a way off of this world.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The probes into the Cadmus network were far more advanced than expected. It was all Braniac 4 could do to hide his advanced processes, leaving behind a shell intelligence to play the role of an idiotic research assistant. The person cracking Cadmus's security had to be an artificial intelligence. No non-ascended biological would be so quick and effective. This was a problem...and a threat.
He had watched the meeting with Lex Luthor through the security cameras in the conference room. The man, previously obsessed with the Kryptonian survivor, was now behaving far more rationally. He had also been excessively interested in Project Tesla, seemingly suspecting that it was more than it appeared. The scientist, Lee, was most obviously not a prodigy in artificial intelligence, so creating even the simplistic mind that would have served as the project's stated objective was beyond him. He was, however, exceedingly easy to manipulate, and foolish enough to take credit for what he seemed to think was pure luck. Luthor, unfortunately, wasn't fooled.
Braniac would have to take care of that. Unfortunately, with a highly-advanced AI roaming around, he would have to be far more cautious than normal. Once the probing of the Cadmus network stopped, the latest iteration of a Kryptonian AI triggered the startup sequence to a particular android that he had routed to Cadmus, unknown to any of the humans or other beings in the facility. It was one of Professor Ivo's prototypes, one that had been seized by the government and then mostly forgotten. By Braniac's standards, it was fairly primitive, but it did have some intriguing adaptive abilities, and it would provide him mobility without having to move over this world's information networks.
* * * * *
Bahamut considered her findings. The AI at Cadmus appeared to be just what it seemed, and there were very few beings that could successfully hide from a Motherbox. Despite that, there were a worrying series of orders that appeared to originate from nowhere. Personnel had been moved around. Equipment had been ordered. Most troubling was that one of the Amazo androids had been shipped to the facility, and none of the staff seemed to realize it. Luthor's concerns may have uncovered something, but she wasn't sure what. It was clearly something to bring to Dragon's attention.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Now that it knew what to watch for, the Phoenix Force was checking for dimensional incursions. Those fascinating lizards had been coming and going, and she was eager to find out more about them. When another portal opened, the primal force of destruction that was Phoenix reached out to the other world in search of an avatar.
* * * * *
Mimi was reading an X-Men comic while Jack chatted with Riley about their next destination. Even though superhero comics weren't that common, they still published some of the more popular ones from Earth Aleph, and Jean Grey was one of her favorites. Mimi could empathize with a young woman burdened by a destructive force of pure flame. She grabbed copies whenever she could find them. Unfortunately, she had to replace them frequently, as they often got left behind or burned. Sometimes, her team mates would destroy them while raging for one reason or another.
The girl stiffened as she felt a presence entering her mind. The presence was overpowering...and strangely amused at her choice of reading material. 'YOU LIKE FIRE, LITTLE ANGEL, DON'T YOU? HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE POWER TO BURN THE MULTIVERSE?' Part of Mimi was terrified of that voice...but the part that was Burnscar...that part was enthralled. Almost against her will, she could feel the scars on her face pull tight as she smiled.
Jack looked up when Mimi tensed. His power was telling him something was wrong. As he looked at the girl, her hair changed from a badly cut, mousy brown to a vibrant red. It even seemed to grow out some, becoming fuller and longer. Jack's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, and he asked, "What just happened to your hair?"
Burnscar looked at Jack, and she could tell he was frightened, because something was happening that he didn't understand. She knew how he would deal with that. Before he could move, she grabbed all of the members of the Nine in a solid telekinetic grip. She held them immobile as Jack Slash appeared to spontaneously combust. Bonesaw's panic was palpable, but she was held in place like the others. Most of the others had no idea what was happening, though the Siberian popped into existence near where Jack's body was rapidly turning to ash. Her mind spoke to the others before the Siberian could attack. 'Jack has decided to retire. This team is under new management now.' This was followed up by a mental attack that knocked Manton unconscious, the Phoenix having easily discerned his location. A burst of pain had the other members screaming internally, still unable to move. She continued with bursts of pain with each member until she could sense they were willing to follow her lead. Bonesaw, interestingly enough, held out the longest. Jack had done quite a lot of brainwashing in her case. Manton would be a problem for later. She would keep him unconscious until she could focus all of her attention on him. His power was too dangerous to risk distractions.
Bonesaw looked at the formerly meek Burnscar nervously, and asked, "What are we going to do now?"
Mimi smirked, an unusual confidence filling her. "First, we're going to go someplace quiet while I convince Siberian that I'm in charge. Then, we're going to our next target." The name of a city had been provided by the dark power that had filled her. "We're going to Brockton Bay."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jacob Mwangi was nervous. This was not typical. As an admiral in Starfleet Intelligence, he was used to being the most informed person in the room. As the Intelligence Councilor for Section 31, he was used to being the most feared person in the room. Their coming visitor, however, was somebody who merited a degree of nervousness. Mwangi could tell that even Admiral Adair was nervous, and Kelly Adair had a reputation as a stone cold bitch even among those who had no idea that she was the Section 31 Military Councilor.
The normal hum of the transporter began, but it was distorted part way through. When the transport finally finished, there was a woman standing on the pad. She was wearing the uniform of the Imperial Navy, and she had a famous, and notorious, scar across her cheek. She stepped forward. "I'm here," she said quietly, "because it has come to my attention that our network in this reality has become compromised."
Mwangi's heart began to beat more rapidly, but he forced himself to appear calm. "I have heard of no major breaches."
The woman stepped forward and backhanded him solidly, knocking him down and to the side. Such was her strength that he had to struggle to regain his balance and avoid falling to the floor. "That," she said, "is part of the problem. I want to see all of your recent reports. If I find that you've missed any signs of this problem, you'll be lucky to just spend time in an agony booth." She looked over to Adair. "I also want to see an overview of Starfleet's military disposition. This last war has been far too disruptive to our plans, and I want to know who is responsible, and if that same party is responsible for the gaps in our security."
"Yes, Admiral," said Adair with a well-concealed nervous swallow.
Turning her attention back to Mwangi, she said, "I assume you have a uniform for me, as well as information about the location of my counterpart here?"
This, Mwangi could at least answer affirmatively. "Yes, Admiral. Your counterpart is currently on leave. She's due back to Starfleet Headquarters in two weeks. Until then, she's visiting with her family in Indiana."
"Her family?" asked the woman curiously.
"Yes," replied Mwangi. "Her mother and sister are still alive in this reality."
"Interesting," she replied. "Very well, I'm going to go get changed. I will expect an updated status when I get back."
Adair and Mwangi both snapped to attention and gave an Imperial salute, fist to chest followed by a palm facing out. "Yes, Admiral Janeway!"
Without another word, one of the most feared officers of the Imperial Navy left to change into something local.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Eve was staring absently out the window of her office. She wasn't sure what to do about the current situation. The Senior Partners were demanding that heads roll over the deaths of the entire Circle of the Black Thorn, but nobody had any idea who had done it. On top of that, their, "CEO," the vampire Angel, was going insane over the fact that both his comatose girlfriend and his amnesiac son had disappeared. Eve wouldn't really care if it weren't for the fact that the vampire was a key part of the firm's plans for the apocalypse, and all of their leverage over him had up and vanished. On top of that, the Sunnydale amulet was missing.
None of the firm's seers were of any use. Whatever was behind these disasters was completely hidden from them. Eve knew firsthand how possible that was, but that didn't help uncover the culprit. She had to do something, however, lest her bosses lose their patience with her. Even the children of the Senior Partners weren't immune to their wrath if they screwed up badly enough.
Absent any information, she decided to go and see if Angel was coherent. As the kidnappers were likely related to the killers of the Circle, any leads he had might help her out, as unlikely as it seemed. The last two times she had gone to him, he had been ranting angrily (the first time) or drunk (the second), and hadn't been the least bit helpful. He even seemed to blame her, for some reason, even though her orders had been to keep Ms. Chase and Connor where they were.
When she walked into Angel's office, she was frustrated to find it completely empty. 'Where would he go in the middle of the day? It's not like he could take a walk outside,' she thought to herself.
Eve froze when a voice from behind her, between her and the door, said, "Angel is unfortunately no longer able to fulfill his duties as CEO of this branch."
She turned to look at the speaker, only to find herself staring at a large, jet black quadrupedal reptilian creature. It wasn't any species of demon that she knew (and she knew a lot), but she could tell it was potentially very dangerous. "Do you know where Angel is?" she asked, while simultaneously calculating whether or not she could make it past the lizard to the doorway.
"No, you cannot make it past me before I could stop you," said the lizard. "Angel is currently unconscious and on his way to being cured."
Eve looked confused. "He's a vampire. He doesn't get sick." She wondered if the lizard was a telepath.
"No, I'm not telepathic. You're just incredibly obvious," said the reptile. "Also, his vampirism is his sickness."
That was...troublesome. The last thing the Senior Partners wanted was for Angel to get dusted, or worse, become human. There were fixes to either situation, but they tended to be expensive and problematic. "Who are you?" she asked. Hopefully, somebody else would wander in and call security, giving her the chance to escape.
"Even if security did arrive, they wouldn't be particularly helpful, and your Senior Partners are going to have to get used to not getting their way. Their access to Liam, as well as the blood demon sharing his body, has been permanently revoked. To answer your question, my name is Metis," replied the lizard.
Eve gave a falsely confident smile. "The Senior Partners have a way of getting what they want." She made an effort to avoid thinking any more compromising thoughts.
"Yes, well, that's changed recently. In addition to Angel, you'll also be losing the services of Winifred Burkle, Charles Gunn, Wesley Wyndham-Price, and Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan. They, too, are also already gone and beyond your reach. Given the level of bad news you now have to convey, I would strongly suggest you instead meet up with Lindsey and find some way to disappear," said Metis. "I'm sure Marcus Hamilton can handle the liaison job in your absence."
Eve stopped and stared, unsure where this creature was getting its information. Ignoring how she new about Marcus, Eve couldn't fathom how she could possibly know about Lindsey. Her boyfriend was so well concealed that even the best seers available to the Senior Partners couldn't locate him, and that was before the best ones were killed.
Metis gave her an excessively toothy grin. "You're actually lucky, Eve. If my Family and I hadn't become involved, then you would have lost your immortality and Lindsey would have been killed." Metis didn't add in that Lorne would have done the deed -- mostly because she didn't want that getting back to the chatty anagogic demon.
Eve chillingly found herself believing the reptile for some reason. "How do you know all this?"
Metis just said, "The Family know a great many things, Eve. Consider yourself warned." As she said the last word, the giant lizard just...faded out of existence.
Eve stood there for a moment, wondering if she was delusional or drugged. She pinched herself, hard, and decided that she was at least awake. Now she had to decide what to do. She could go to the Senior Partners and tell them that in addition to the seer and the kid, Angel and his entire crew were now gone, and the only clue they had about who had taken them and killed the Circle of the Black Thorn was a conversation she had had with a giant lizard that can turn invisible. On the other hand, she could go to her boyfriend, and the two of them could get as far from LA as possible and try to find a way to keep her hidden like him.
As she started walking toward the elevator, she passed Angel's brainless secretary, Harmony.
"Have you seen Angel recently?" asked the blonde.
Eve gave her a fake smile. "Sorry, not this morning." When it looked like the blonde was going to say something else, she said, "Ooh, sorry, can't talk. I have to get to a meeting!" Harmony paused, confused long enough by this turn of events to let her get to the elevators.
Once she was out of the building, she sent Lindsey a pre-arranged text message that let him know it was time to leave town. Hopefully, he would be ready to go by the time she got there.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The USS Demeter was a Weyland-Yutani exploratory scout. The scouts were responsible for the ever-expanding sphere of human influence in the galaxy. That role hadn't changed, even after the firm's leadership changed. Curiosity was a fundamental human trait, one shared by their children, both biological and synthetic.
Richie Gomez was a warrant officer on the Demeter, and he was currently looking through a set of alien ruins on the planet they had recently discovered around a distant star. It was so recent a discovery that they were still waiting for an alphanumeric designation for the new planet from the home office. The presence of evidence of an alien civilization, however, was a rare find, and so they hadn't waited to start exploring. Honestly, Gomez was hoping to make a discovery before corporate replied with orders to leave exploration to the "experts." With luck, he could find something that would earn him a promotion, or maybe enough money to go independent.
Foolishly, he hadn't informed anybody else on the crew where he was going, as he didn't want to share anything he found. That made it fairly easy for the Engineer to paralyze his muscles. The ten-foot tall pale giant then simply picked him up and carried him back to a lab. Sadly, Mr. Gomez wouldn't be reporting back to the Demeter, and a spirited search by the rest of the crew found absolutely nothing. The Engineer, however, found the anti-xenomorph virus spread throughout his body absolutely fascinating. That level of genetic engineering was approaching that of his own species, which was unique in his experience. It was also a serious threat that would need to be addressed.
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